Bangalore Sexual Assault: CM to Take Action Against School Management

A day after the state government decided to file a criminal case for violating several rules against the institution, where three-year-old child got sexually assaulted, Karnataka Chief Minister S Siddaramaiah asked police to take action against the institution’s management on Friday.

On Wednesday, the incident had triggered widespread protests from parents who gathered at the campus seeking answers from the authorities of the "Orchid The International" school in Bangalore.

Meanwhile Police Inspector TC Venkatesh said, "We have registered a criminal case late Tuesday on a complaint by the victim’s father that his young daughter was sexually abused in the Orchid International School premises."

The case was registered under sections 4 and 6 of the Pocso Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012) and section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the unidentified suspect(s).

According to the complaint, the girl was crying when her mother picked her from the school in Jalahalli and was not behaving normal and had symptoms of fever. "The victim had signs of fever and complained to her mother that she was physically abused by someone she did not know or recognize," the complaint by her father Harpreet Singh said.

However, Venkatesh said, "We are checking the footage of the closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed in the school and questioning its staff and faculty."

Meanwhile, a parent commented, "I’m shocked that the incident has happened in this school where the atmosphere was so good, I have come here to know from the management what has happened. I have been to this school, security is good here."

The latest, which is the third such incident of child abuse in a school in Bangalore, has occurred three months after a six-year-old girl student was allegedly raped July 3 in The Vibgyor High school in the eastern suburb by its gymnastic coach and his assistant.

Though the accused were arrested three weeks after the incident on July 29 and remanded to judicial custody pending investigation and filing of the charge-sheet by police, it saw public erupt in anger on the streets leading to police issuing stringent guidelines to schools to ensure safety of children and the government amending the Goondas Act to bring sexual offences under its ambit.